Long, long ago there lived a wayward brahmin boy Kesava at Vedadyam agrahara on the banks of river Tungabhadra. Only brahmins, well versed in the four vedas and other sastras lived in that village. The agrahara was so pious and divine that celestial beings who wander in the astral skies, made it their favourate place to visit.
When the dark sky of the night turned purple in the twilight of the morning, every household in the agrahara revebrated with vedic chants. Lord Indra and other gods who control the five elements of nature were present invisible when the brahmins recited vedic slokas in octave.
The womenfolk in the brahmin households were good house keepers and fulfilled their religious obligations dutifully. While their menfolk were busy in chanting the vedic slokas or teaching their disciples the various sastras, the women worshiped Sakti in Her various forms as Lakshmi, Durga and Saraswati through Lalita Sahasra nama.
When Kesava was eight years old, his parents performed the sacred thread ceremony (upanayanam) on him, thus making him eligible to study the four vedas and sixty four sastras.
Kesava was a child prodigy and mastered all the sastras by the time he was eighteen years old. His parents married him to a beautiful girl from a respectable family.
The other brahmins of the agrahara often complimented Kesava's father for begetting such a loving and dutiful son.
But the father's happiness was short lived. Kesava often visited the nearby town and got involved in the company of bad women and criminal gangs. He cut off the tuft of hair at the back of his head and grew bushy hair. His clean shaven upper lip had now big moustache that frightened gullible persons who were not willing to part their valuables. He always carried a dagger and a sword. His mouth which uttered Vedic hymns now hurled abuses at those who were not quick enough to give what he demanded. He also began to drink heavily till he bcame tipsy and often fell on the side walks of the roads. He went to bad women and gave away what he got through robbeires.
When his parents came to know about their son's nefarious activities, they sent for him. When Kesava came with great reluctance, his parents were aghast at his intimidating appearance. They soon recovered and implored him to be a good son as before. His wife also begged him not to leave her. Even the well meaning brahmins counselled him to leave the wrong path. But Kesava did not heed. Instead, he got angry with his parents, wife and even the brahmins of the agrahara. He vowed that he would not visit the agrahara again.
Kesava fell ill with a mysterious disease in the town. He gave all his money to the doctors and begged them to cure him. After a few months, he was fully recovered. On a full moon day he went to the bad women again.
The bad women who praised Kesava's handsome figure as long as he showering on them gold coins, ornaments, now turned him away. He realised that they would not let him in, unless he gave them lots and lots of money again. So he again took to robberies again. On that fateful day, he attacked with his goons a vedic brahmin's house for gain. He killed the brahmin when the latter resisted.
Kesava visited one of his favourate bad women and gave her the money which he seized by killing the Vedic brahmin. The bad woman was happy at this and he also laughed in glee. But their joy was cut short by the appearance of a huge monster. It said,"I am a brahminic demon. I eat only those brahmins who commit sins against fellow brahmins." The demon looked at the bad woman and said again, "I will eat you too, because you are also responsible for Kesava's down fall."
Both Kesava and the woman were frightened at the demon. Kesava asked her to hide him in any huge box in the attic. But the woman who wanted to save her own life, threw him out of her house.
Now Kesava took to his heels, the brahminic demon chasing him. The demon showered blows on his head and back. He kicked and scratched him all over his body. While running for life, he fell down many times which resulted in bleeding injuries. When the thick dust on the path touched his wounds he cried in agony. But the brahminic demon was merciless. He beat him with his hands and kicked with legs which were like huge tree trunks. The demon did not like to kill him on the spot. He wanted slow death to him. Hence he took great joy in causing him grievous injuries.
This way he ran, he limped, he crawled through many towns and villages, finally reaching the agrahara, a place, he vowed would not visit again, earlier.
Kesava reached his house and fell on his parents' feet. He cried in remorse till his tears washed their feet. His father gathered Kesava in his arms and comforted him. But the Brahminic demon which followed him into the house, dragged him aside from his father's embrace and delivered a series of blows on his head.
When Kesava collapsed on the floor, the father begged the demon to leave his son. But the demon would not listen. He said, "O, noble brahmin, Kesava is not a worthy son of you. He did everything a good brahmin should not do. He played dice, drank liquor, lived with bad women and to top them all, killed a brahmin for gain. Hence it is my job to torture and kill him." The demon again kicked Kesava on his back. He warned Kesava's parents that he would eat them if they came to their son's rescue. So the parents became silent spectators when their son was thus thrashed by the demon.
As fortune would have it, Sage Bharadwaja visited the house and witnessed the ghastly scene. But he was not perturbed. With a benign smile he inquired the welfare of Kesava's parents. When Kesava's father was about to explain his son's plight, the learned sage gestured him to stop. Then he said, "No doubt, your son Kesava is a worst sinner. But he suffered enough of his Karma. If you make a pilgrimage to Tirupati and have a holy bath in the tank of Kataha along with your son, Kesava's dushkarma will end and the brahminic demon will leave him."
Accordingly, Kesava and his father visited Tirupati. They climbed the steep rockey steps and reached the abode of the Lord of Seven Hills Sri Venkateswara. They first worshipped at the Varaha Swami temple and then visited the temple of Venkateswara.
As ordained by Sage Bharadwaja, they had a holy bath in the tank of Kataha and again visited Lord Venkateswara. As they stood with folded hands at the sanctum and sanctorum of the Lord, a dazzling light passed through Kesava's body. Then the Lord's voice was heard,"Now Kesava's dushkarma was over. Now he is a reformed man. His suffering is a lesson to the evil doers."
The brahminic demon who was visible only to Kesava and his father, waited at the entrance of the temple. When Kesava emerged out of the temple along with his father, the demon observed an eternal glow on his face. Instantly he realised that his evil karma ended. He bowed to Kesava and his father and said, "Sirs, I am a tool in God's blessed hands. Almighty sent me to suffer you to the maximum so that your bad karma would be over sooner." Then he dissolved into the skies.
Kesava was a dutiful son to his parents and loving husband to his wife ever after.
Difficult Words Explained
- agrahara: a hamlet rich in cultivable lands, donated by kings to scholarly brahmins.
- Bharadwaja: Sage Bharadwaja is a highly venerated saint. His son was Acharya Drona, the preceptor of Kauravas and Pandavas
- Vedas: That which is realised. Vedas are four in number, Rig. Yajur, Sama and Adharvana
- sastras: subjects, 64 in number, including the art of stealing.
- celestial: heavenly,
- astral: highest skies
- brahmin: a person who realised the ultimate reality, Brahman, usually a person belonging to priest class
- dagger: a small sword with a pointed blade
- dice: small cubes of wood, marked on each side with one to six spots, used in gambling.
- Kataha: since kata means destruction, it may mean a stream that destroys one's sins.
- tipsy: losing balance due to drinking heavily
- octave: a tone on the eighth degree from a given tone.
- slokas: Verses in Sanskrit
- sahasranama: the thousand names of Goddes Sakti
- upanayanam: an authorising ceremony performed on an eight year old brahmin boy to enable him learn all the sastras. The boy is regarded to be born again (dwija) after the ceremony. A sacred thread of three strands dangling from left shoulder to the right side of the waist is the chief symbol of the ceremony in addition to the daily recitation of vedic mantras as Sandhya Vandan (Obeisance to twilight, Purusha Suktam (hymn to the purusha-cosmic being-Rigveda)
- nefarious: extremely wicked
- prodigy: a boy or girl with wonderful talent
- tuft of hair: the strands of hair braided from the back of the head to the nape of the neck for a brahmin which lasts from upanayanam to death.
- brahminic demon (brahma rakshasa): a brahmin who is born as a demon because of his evil deeds (dushkarma) in his previous birth. A brahma rakshasa is ordained by the Almighty to eat or harass only bad brahmins.
- dushkarma: evil deeds, reaping only what one sows.
- Varaha Swami: an incarnation of Vishnu into a boar (male pig) which supported the earth on its snout when the universe was submerged in water. Vishnu kills the demon Hiranyaksha also in this incarnation. Mythology says that devotees should first visit Varaha Swamy and then Lord Venkateswara because, the Former provides living space to the Latter on the Seven Hills.
- sanctum sanctorum: a holy place in the temple where the presiding deity is installed.
- Tirupati: a holy place in Andhra Pradesh, India, in which Lord Venkateswara, an incarnation of Vishnu blesses the devotees on the seven hills.
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